Acid Reflux, Heartburn & GERD

Acid reflux is a widely misunderstood problem. Many people are lead to believe that acid reflux is a result of too much acid in the stomach. The reality is that acid reflux, heartburn and GERD is very frequently the result of insufficient stomach acid production. Listen in to this episode to learn the real causes and implications of acid reflux, heartburn and GERD. We’ll discuss helpful tips and powerful digestive supplements you can use to correct your digestion and relieve your symptoms naturally and holistically.

Here’s a great video Tony made about acid reflux.

In this Episode You’ll Learn

A large percentage of cases of acid reflux, heartburn and GERD are caused by insufficient stomach acid production.
Hiatal hernias can also cause acid reflux, heartburn and GERD. Sometimes the presence of a hiatal hernia is indirectly caused by low stomach acid production that lead to inflammation and tissue damage.
Stomach acid (HCL) usually keeps the stomach at a low enough pH to kill off bacteria. When HCL levels are low, then the pH can drift higher and create an internal environment in the stomach that is suitable for the growth of undesirable bacteria in the stomach. Bacteria in the stomach can create alkaline exotoxins that further impair digestion and impose burden on the body.
The fermentation from bacteria in the stomach can cause bloating and gaseous pressure that forces the upper valve of the stomach (the Lower Esophageal Sphincter / L.E.S.) to slip open momentarily, allowing the contents of the stomach to be regurgitated up the esophagus, resulting in the symptoms of acid reflux.
In such cases of bacterial exotoxins causing reflux the contents being regurgitated are usually not as acidic as a healthy stomach’s contents would be, but still may cause damage to the tissue of the esophagus do to enzymes, the exotoxins themselves and whatever HCL is present.
Supplementing with Betaine HCL capsules to solve the issues of acid reflux, heartburn and GERD is often an effective course of action.
Sometimes people experience extreme nausea and increased symptoms when they first start supplementing with Betaine HCL. This is usually due to the chemical reaction between the HCL, the bacteria and their exotoxins.
When supplementing with HCL does cause an increase in symptoms it often comes in handy to take steps to kill off the bacteria before continuing with or increasing your dose of HCL. Natural anti-bacterial supplements such as Heartburn Free or any other D-limonene supplement are often very effective at wiping out bacteria populations in the stomach. Once bacteria is killed off in the stomach their alkaline exotoxins diminish and supplementation with Betaine HCL can usually be resumed without discomfort.
Before supplementing with Betaine HCL it is necessary to ensure that bile flow is occurring properly. Without healthy bile flow the increased HCL in the digestive system could cause damage to the intestines.
We discuss the nuances of diet and supplement protocols that we’ve found to be generally very effective for many, many people dealing with reflux, heartburn and GERD. These strategies involve the supplemental use of betaine HCL, Beet Flow and natural antimicrobial agents like d-limonene.
We discuss how to use Beet Flow to kick start and support bile flow, D-limonene to kill of gastric bacteria and how to ramp up your dosage of betaine HCL appropriately.
We also talk about the paramount significance of the role of stomach acid and digestion in general in supporting health.

Links Mentioned in this Episode

Full List of Show Topics We’ve Covered

Show Transcriptions – Understanding Acid Reflux, Heartburn and GERD

Disclaimer
T.C. Hale is not a doctor and does not claim to be a doctor, licensed in any type of medical field. Don’t be an idiot and use anything heard on this show as medical advice. This information should be used for educational purposes only and you should contact your doctor for any medical advice. Now get off me.

Kinna: Welcome to Kick It Naturally. I’m Kinna McInroe and I’m here with T.C. Hale. Natural health expert, author, film producer and porn star.

Tony: Hahaha. Hahahaha.

Kinna: He’s not really a porn star, but I like to think of him that way. Say hi T.C.

Tony: I say hi.

Kinna: Today we’re going to be talking about some crazy topics; acid reflux, heartburn, GERD…..

Tony: And porn.

Kinna: And porn. Exactly. Porn’s always gonna be one of the topics. You know?

Tony: In the valley.

Kinna: Uh huh. Exactly. So I just have one question right off the bat. So acid reflux, heartburn, GERD it’s all the same thing, but three different names?

Tony: One some names are more fancy than the other. I think what happens is if somebody has heartburn they go to the doctor with heartburn the doctor’s like, “Oh, a lot of people have heartburn that’s no fun, but if I can say you have GERD, then I can diagnose you with something which means I can give you all these drugs and then that works out better.”

Kinna: GERD sounds awful.

Tony: I know, but It’s a it’s just a fancy Gastroesophageal reflux disease. And

It’s got disease in there, so that makes you feel like, “Oh, I have a disease I better have a bunch of drugs.

Kinna: Yeah say that one three times. That one’s fun.

Tony: I don’t want to.

Kinna: Ok. Alright so hey, listeners out there, please follow us on Facebook at kick it in the nuts and we will post topics that we’ll be doing in future shows and then you can post any questions you might want us to cover in that show. So let’s just dive in a little bit to acid reflux, heartburn, GERD whichever one you wanna talk about cause they’re all the same.

Tony: Yeah, let’s talk about GERD and acid reflux and heartburn.

Kinna: Ok.

Tony: And we’ve been getting a lot of questions now too, so go on and start asking some so that we can cover more stuff. But basically what happens is we eat something and then we get heartburn and it feels like someone is stabbing us in the chest and that’s not very friendly of that person to do and it can really suck like especially at night people go to sleep and they’ll wake up like feeling like somebody’s drilling in their chest or in their throat. And it’s it’s not fun at all. So what we’ve been taught is that our stomach is making too much acid and we have to take these drugs that either neutralize the acid which are all those chalky kind of you know tums kind of things that people take a lot. And that just kind of neutralizes that acid. Or we take other drugs that turn off the body’s ability to make this acid and then that symptom goes away and we’re all good. Yaaaaayyy! Bah. Yeah, that’s not so right. It’s kind of wrong. So what happens is this heartburn feeling that you’re getting is just the symptom that you’re feeling of the acid coming back up the esophagus. It’s not supposed to come back up. Once we eat food, it’s supposed to go do other things. It’s not supposed to come back up and say, “Hey, what’s it like where I came from?”

Kinna: Well, I don’t mean to brag, but I don’t suffer for any of these through any I can’t talk. I don’t suffer with any of these three things. So, I’m you know I have my own bag of crap, but I never know what people are talking about when they talk about this.

Tony: Which we should probably dig into your bag and that’d be like 3 or 4 shows long.

Kinna: Yeah, yeah.

Tony: You’re lucky though cause this one really blows. And but what’s going on is when we turn off that acid we don’t feel the heartburn anymore so we figure that we fixed the problem. The issue is that in our stomach we also make digestive enzymes and those are still coming up there just not acidic so we don’t feel it. So if you have a reflux problem and you turn off the acid you’re still having reflux you just don’t feel it and these digestive enzymes that are coming back up are made to break down protein.

Read the Entire Show Transcription HERE